It's been a rough week for Washington Capitals fans. Their team has the worst record in the NHL, they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Thursday night and the trade chatter, ridiculous as it may be, is starting to swirl.

So, they can take some heart in the fact that comments made by former winger Mike Knuble, now with the Philadelphia Flyers, weren't quite as flammable as they initially seemed.

Knuble, who wasn't re-signed by the Caps and rejoined the Philadelphia Flyers despite being 40 years old, went on Philly radio station 94 WIP and talked, among other things, about the difference between the towns' fanbases. Yes, the "bandwagon" word was used. Lightly, though.

"(Rooting for the Flyers is) just tradition—the fact that, like, being a Flyers fan and being with the Flyers is passed down from generation to generation. Washington, you see everybody's a new fan, nobody's from there, really. They're kind of just jumping on the bandwagon," Knuble said.

Knuble played for the Flyers from 2005-09 before returning on a one-year deal last month.

"It's a city I always found out, you keep your mouth shut, you work hard, you do what you're expected to on the ice, you'll be OK. I think the fans respond to the guys that are hardworking guys and try and do things the right way on the ice," Knuble said.

The bigger problem for Washington: fixing the penalty kill. They've allowed a league-high 15 goals while shorthanded, and Pittsburgh potted three during a five-goal second period on Thursday. That, combined with brutal goaltending, has been their biggest problem—not their only one, but the biggest one.

"The issue with our club right now, in my mind, is all these penalties that we're taking. It's too much," GM George McPhee told reporters on Friday. "We're playing a good game and then we start taking penalties and we take them in bunches. No system, no coach, no team can survive that. We've given up the most shorthanded goals in the League and for good reason—we're taking too many. It's too hard on the goaltenders and it's too hard on the team."

McPhee added that he wouldn't be firing new coach Adam Oates or "blowing anything up." Remember that next time you search Twitter for "Alex Ovechkin trade."